Helping Helps Those Who Help: Wellbeing and Volunteering Status in College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of long-term volunteering and well-being, as past research found a positive relationship between short-term volunteering and wellbeing. This study used a descriptive-comparative-correlational design via survey methodology. The Volunteering and Wellbeing Questionary was administered to (n = 82) participants who were accessed through convenience sampling at a university in the southern United States. As predicted, those who had volunteered long-term (student missionaries) and those planning on long-term volunteering showed significantly higher levels of intrinsic religiosity than those who occasionally volunteered. The occasional volunteer group showed significantly higher levels of extrinsic religiosity. Similarly, the occasional volunteer group had the highest level of anxiety and perfectionism, though results were inconclusive. Within the long-term volunteer group, a significant strong inverse correlation was found between intrinsic and extrinsic life aspirations. Those who had volunteered long-term had greater well-being than those who had not. Limitations and agendas for future research are discussed. Key terms: volunteering, community service, service learning, depression, mental health, well-being, impacts, effects, perfectionism, life aspirations, religiosity and benefits

Secession- Beethoven Study

It is assumed that multimodal experiences of art (e.g., listening to music while viewing a painting) can improve aesthetic experience as the two modalities can complement each other. In the current museum study, we tested whether the multimodal experience of works of art—where the artwork is inspired by the musical piece—can enhance aesthetic experience, leading to better wellbeing benefits. For this, we used a mixed design to compare people who viewed Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze painting in the Secession Museum (Vienna, Austria) either on its own (n=111) or while listening to its musical inspiration (n=129), excerpts of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. For all visitors, a short museum visit (M = 14.3, SD = 6.6 min) reduced anxiety, stress and negative mood, as well as improved positive mood. Furthermore, this effect was larger for those who also heard the music and perceived it as pleasant and congruent with the artwork. Additionally, these two factors slightly enhanced aesthetic experience and made people less distracted by the other things, and resulted in longer viewing times. Finally, those who knew more about art, who were more interested in art, or more aesthetically responsive enjoyed the art more, understood it better, and their mood improved more in the museum. Overall, our results highlight the role of subjective experience and indicate that qualitatively better art experiences lead to higher well-being gains. Reference: Fekete, A., Specker, E., Mikuni, J., Trupp, M. D., & Leder, H. (2023). When the painting meets its musical inspiration: The impact of multimodal art experience on aesthetic enjoyment and subjective well-being in the museum. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca000064